A very poor-qual AUD used to circulate that went:
x1x Bertha; Mexicali Blues; Brown Eyed Women; Looks Like Rain; Loose Lucy; Beat it on Down the Line; China Cat Sunflower>I Know You Rider; Jack Straw; Here Comes Sunshine; El Paso; Box of Rain; Tennessee Jed; Playing in the Band     
x2x They Love Each Other; Greatest Story Ever Told; Row Jimmy; Big River; Ramble on Rose; Me & Bobby McGee; Wave That Flag; You Ain't Woman Enough; Truckin'>Eyes of the World>Sugar Magnolia.
The encore has never been known. The show became more of a mystery after a Phil jam became the most common fragment. It was assumed that it was part of a Truckin'>Eyes Nobody's Fault jam, until Nov. 2012 when the continuation into Sugar Mag was part of the 30 Days of Dead (and we figured out it was coming out of Eyes). Anyway, it's not a NFJ - the four descending major chords are a Feelin' Groovy (starts at 5:54), whereas NFJ (played earlier, in a missing sequence) is a blues jam in minor key. Light Into Ashes points out that this was the last random Feelin' Groovy Jam before it became part of China>Rider.

It's a total tease because it's a pretty interesting frag and, given the setlist, it may have been a stellar, 4-hour show (there a four jam songs in the 1st set alone). Or not. There are SUPPOSED to be remaining mysteries, and anyway, it's Iowa - note that one person's parents went, were blown away and yet never went to another show! So how the heck would we expect there to be tapers; especially when it was verboten at the time? The Alembic system with which they were touring (this is the year before the Wall of Sound) assigned Phil's bass one channel per string, and it sounds like the mix at the board split these into left and right channels (in the 2nd set frag). That does not necessarily mean this is what the audience heard from the stacks this night (for mixing reasons and quirks of that year's system) but it's possible, given pictures of the '73 stage setup. If it was working that night, it probably wasn't as distinct in person as it would be on a SBD.

It's hard to rate a show frag like this but we do have 54 minutes of B to B- from the 1st set (with a great Playin') and the must-hear 2nd set jam into Sugar Mag.
Overall = 4 Stars

SOURCES: The sly.16051 for the end of the 1st Set. The Dead.net release of Jam>Sugar Magnolia.

This is one hell of a Playin'.

Kreutzman's cymbals right up in your face, the way it should be.

super hot playin'...shame it isnt complete

I would bet the HCS and Eyes are very sweet.

Bertha, Mexicali Blues, Brown Eyed Women, Looks Like Rain, Loose Lucy, Beat It On Down The Line, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Jack Straw, Here Comes Sunshine, El Paso, Box Of Rain, Tennessee Jed, Playing In The Band

Set 2: They Love Each Other, Greatest Story Ever Told, Row Jimmy, Big River, Ramble On Rose, Me And Bobby McGee, Truckin' > Nobody's Fault But Mine > Eyes Of The World > Sugar Magnolia

It was a wonderful night in Iowa City. Fortunately for us the Dead came around Iowa often in the early 70's. A magical show followed on 5/13/73 in Des Moines at the fairgrounds. But this night the fieldhouse was packed. The band was on. I had taken the bus to Champaign and saw the show 2 nights earlier. These shows show why '73 is my favorite year. Yes hopeully some day the rest of the show is found. You never know. As the recent finding of a couple of shows in '69 and '70 shows, it can happen. GO HAWKS!!

Forget the El Paso fragment, but everything else here represents a mighty big tease - this is one of the most elusive of '73 shows out there. One day, hopefully, we'll see a full board emerge!

The Playin' is, yes, quite a creation.

Short recording, but sweet.

my folks went to this show -- their first & only w/jer -- back when they lived in iowa. they said it was fantastic...& they've been looking for it ever since. has enough research been done to state definitively that there's no complete recording of this show?

Fall '72 and Nov. '73 have some absolute beasts, but i'm starting to maybe think all the best playin's were really in February '73: 2/15, 2/22, and THIS!

speechless, yet again...

The one and only

one of the very fine "playin" experiences..the truckin jam and "fault" are, well what the Dead are all about.download this.

Playin is very hot, the University of Illinois playin and Eugene are my 2 favorites of all time - This one melts the mouth and the hands check out Jer with the wawa around 18:00 right before he re-enters Earth orbit. Pity this is so short.

Your'e right! After one listen, this is my favorite version of Playing in the Band that I have downloaded. Peak form, definitive performance. Wow indeed.

This version of 'Playin' smokes and the sound quality is A+.

Use it for some tasty filler at the end of a short CD. Giddyup.